Unohana sat on Soi's bed staring down at her belly. She was four months along.
It was getting difficult to hide the obvious bulge of her stomach. And she would only get bigger until the baby was fully developed.
Soi walked in from the shower. Her hair was still damp. She had on a yellow tank top and black shorts.
"I'm huge."
"No your not." Soi crawled onto the bed behind her.
"Look at this! I'm huge."
"You'll get bigger, and that's no big deal."
"Easy for you to say. Your not having it."
"Very true. But it's what happens to pregnant women. Your not going to stay skinny."
"Nobody else knows…but I can't hide it anymore."
"The baby hasn't even started kicking yet. Be thankful."
Retsu hummed as she turned to Soi.
"So you think it'll be a boy, really?"
"I know so. We have a long standing history of men in our family."
"But a lot of your family was female as well."
"I said it wrong. When two women have a baby and one of them is a Fong…there are very high chances of a boy."
Unohana nodded her understanding.
She looked back down to her belly. "Do you think anyone in the meeting tomorrow will notice?"
"They'll all be paying attention to Yamamoto. So I doubt it."
Unohana nodded again and allowed Soi to pull her gently onto the bed.
"I think you look beautiful, huge or not."
The healer blushed and smiled at her lover. "Thank you Soi. I needed to hear that."
"Mm-hmm."
Soi propped herself up on her right elbow and placed her head on her hand. Her free hand traced invisible patterns across Retsu's stomach.
A kick was felt, obviously, by both women.
"Huh…first kick." Soi said staring at her hand.
She put her hand back on Retsu's belly…another kick.
Soi's face went from surprised to happy in a second, and looked up at the pregnant woman.
"I think the baby likes me."
Unohana laughed. "Seems so."
They laughed quietly.
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"I don't want to go in there." Retsu whispered.
"We have to." Soi said lowly, but didn't whisper.
They were outside of the meeting room. The other captains had yet to arrive.
"Nobody else is in there. Let's just go and stand in our places. It's not that big of a meeting anyway. Just an update on hollow activities and paperwork." Soi tried to sooth her.
It worked.
Unohana nodded and Soi slid the door open.
Yamamoto sat in his place straining at them. "Take your places." He said in a low tone.
They did so.
There was silence for a long time until the leader broke it.
"You should hope no one else notices your stomach Captain Unohana."
Retsu snapped her attention to him, then back down to her belly, then to Soi.
"I told you I was huge!" She said loudly.
"I…," Soi started to say something but got cut off as the door slid open.
Zaraki, Komamura, Gin, and Kurotsuchi walked in with Hitsugaya not far behind.
Unohana moved closer to Soi as Gin tried to take his place.
"Uh…Commander?" He looked to the old man.
"Take Unohana's place." He responded.
"Okay?" He did as told.
The other men, excluding Kurotsuchi, gave them an odd look.
The two women ignored it, and the other men went to their own thoughts.
Except Hitsugaya, her noticed that the healer looked different. And just as he did her noticed the small protrusion of her stomach.
His eyes widened but her said nothing.
The others walked in then and the meeting commenced.
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"See? That wasn't so bad." Soi gripped Retsu's hand tighter.
"No…I suppose not."
They didn't notice the tenth division captain behind them.
Until her spoke. "How far?"
Their hand unclasped as they whipped around. "What?" Soi asked confused. What was he talking about?
"How far along are you?" He asked Unohana.
"How did you know?"
"It's quite hard to hide something rounded and covered in black against white."
"I see. You can't tell anyone."
"I won't. But Rangiku may find out. Don't ask how, just know that she has her ways. And if she does find out…the entire Soul Society would know by nightfall."
"Why is she so nosy anyway?" Soi asked.
"She gets bored with paperwork. It's very annoying. Good luck though." He bowed and walked off in the opposite direction.
"I think Isane will tell her sister." Soi said suddenly.
"She said she wouldn't tell anyone."
"You really think she won't tell family?" Soi gave her a skeptical look as she turned.
"I don't know." Unohana followed.
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"She told her sister!" Soi shouted from her office.
Unohana looked away from the mirror she was staring into. "What?"
Soi walked into the room, holding up a letter. "Isane told her sister. And her sister told everyone else!"
Retsu pulled on her robe. "How do you know she told everyone else?"
Soi laughed sarcastically and motioned to her office.
Unohana looked out.
There was a pile of mail on Soi's desk.
Retsu gasped, placing her hand over her mouth.
Isane rushed in just then. "Captain! I didn't know she would tell! I didn't I swear!"
"She told you to keep it to yourself didn't she?" Soi asked, obviously annoyed with this.
"I apologize ma'am. I really didn't know!" She ran out.
"If I get my hands on that sister of hers! I'll strangle the life outta her! Now that freak captain of twelfth division will be after you!"
"I'm sure she didn't know."
"Will you stop making excuses for her! That little brat knows who that man is! She let her mouth off before her brain could catch up!" Soi snapped.
Retsu looked down. She knew Soi was right. But…she didn't know what to do. Kiyone was important to Isane and Isane was important to Retsu.
Soi immediately felt guilty. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that."
"No. Your right. Kiyone does tend to talk first and think later. I'll talk to her tomorrow. Right now I need to rest."
Soi nodded and followed her into the bed room.
"Want us to throw these away!" Hotaru called.
"Yes. Thank you Hotaru!" Soi called.
"No problem." Hotaru answered. "Let's get these outta here Ai-Mi."
"Yes ma'am."
They began to get rid of all the letters. Thinking of fun ways to get rid of them.